Its official, Odisha govt begins power cuts

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today decided to resort to power cuts across the State due to less water in reservoirs.

“We have to go for load shedding in view of the declining water level in major reservoirs, mostly in southern Odisha. The distribution companies will soon announce the time and duration of power cuts in their respective regions,” Energy Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra told reporters.

Mohapatra pointed out that the water level in Indravati dam has fallen by 50 per cent while it declined to 40 per cent in Balimela and Upper Kolab.

This apart, Mohapatra said the availability from thermal sector in the state has also declined as some units of NTPC and TTPS were under maintenance.

Official sources said while Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri each will witness a declared one-hour power cuts in a day, other urban areas across the State will face a minimum two-hour power failure. However rural areas are likely to be the worst sufferers as the duration may exceed to several hours.

Though the State needs an average 3500 MW of electricity a day, during peak hours it exceeds to 4000 MW. Besides, the State is facing 500 MW power generation shortage due to various reasons.

Energy department officials said the State is receiving 1000MW less power from some major hydro power generation units, some of which have been hit by technical snags.

While Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri each will witness a declared one-hour power cuts in a day, other urban areas across the state will face a minimum two-hour power failure.

However rural areas are likely to be the worst sufferers as the duration may exceed to several hours, added sources.

According to national media reports, the water storage levels in 85 important reservoirs in the country, which is monitored by the Central Water Commission (CWC), is less when compared with the corresponding period of last year.

Of the 91 important reservoirs monitored by CWC, the water storage level in six important reservoirs located in northern region is better when compared with the corresponding period of last year as on September 10.

According to a Ministry of Water Resources statement here, there are 15 reservoirs under CWC monitoring in the eastern region – Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and Tripura.

The total storage available in these reservoirs is 10.88 BCM which is 58 per cent of total storage capacity of these reservoirs.

“The storage during corresponding period of last year was 68 per cent and average storage of last 10 years during corresponding period was 65 per cent of storage capacity of these reservoirs. Thus, storage during current year is less than the corresponding period of last year and is also less than the average storage of last 10 years during the corresponding period,” the statement said.

As far as the water storage levels in western and eastern regions, comprising 27 and 31 important reservoirs respectively, whose water levels are monitored by CWC, the storage during the current year is less than the storage of last year and is also less than the average storage of last 10 years.

While the storage level in 12 important reservoirs located in the central region comprising – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is less when compared with the corresponding period of last year, it is better than the average storage of last 10 years.

The statement also said that “the water storage available in 91 major reservoirs of the country as on September 10 was 92.379 BCM which is 59 per cent of total storage capacity of these reservoirs.

“This storage is 77 per cent of the storage of corresponding period of last year and 81 per cent of storage of average of last ten years,” it said.

States having better storage than last year for corresponding period are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tripura, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, the statement said.

Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana (Two combined project in both states) Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are having lesser storage than last year for corresponding period, it added.